Disenchantment Review – Spoiler Free
Disenchantment is a brand new animated series which was recently released on the Netflix streaming service. The show was created by Matt Groening who some may know as the creator of The Simpsons and Futurama. Disenchantment is a series set in the medieval times and focuses on the life of a princess named Bean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp_RnJcb8Ig
As a massive fan of The Simpsons for a very long time and a person who enjoyed Futurama while it was on, I was keen to see what Matt Groening would be able to do with Disenchantment. My expectations before I watched weren’t set too high, but they weren’t low either. Coming out of just watching all 10 episodes in one sitting, I’d have t say that Disenchantment has a quite a few ups and downs but a lot of promise going into its second season.
The first thing I noticed about Disenchantment was the animation. The characters are done quite similarly to what we’re used to in previous Matt Groening shows and I think what’s most noticeable about the character designs across all three shows is the eyes. They’re always big and round and there’s something very friendly about all that.
Disenchantment’s animation colouring throughout the ten episodes is lightly coloured. Wheras Futurama and The Simpsons have bright bold colours, Disenchantment’s animation colours are lighter and softer. The show has a relaxed look to it which is charming and quite calming to watch.
Where the show does have some ups and downs is with a few stories we get throughout the ten episode run. For the most part quite a few episodes are rather good, but occasionally there are some episodes you just want to see end.
The main character in the show is Bean, she is a princess living in a castle. She is due to get married early on in the show, but doesn’t really want to. Her character is on an journey to discover who she is and what she’s good at and it’s actually quite a nice story to follow. Having self discovery as the central theme for the main character, means that throughout the ten episodes we get quite a bit of character development and learn a lot about Bean. This was great!
Bean has two best friends in the show which accompany her on her many adventures. Her two friends are Luci who is a demon and Elfo who is an elf. These two characters are a bit hit and miss at times. Throughout the 10 episodes, I found that I enjoyed Luci quite a bit, but for some reason always found Elfo to be annoying. In general, almost every Elf in the show was unliked by me, I’m not too sure what it was about them but they’re annoying.
The voice acting is pretty good. I didn’t have a problem with anyone at all and every character seemed to be voiced in just the right way. I probably enjoyed listening to Abbi Jacobson’s voice the most and that’s good because she voices, Bean, the main character. I also really enjoyed John DiMaggio and Eric André.
The music is well done. For a medieval setting, most of the musical scores work well. By the time the final episode ended earlier today, I came to really enjoy the show’s theme song too. Most of the themes for the series were done by Mark Mothersbaugh who some may know for his work on Thor: Ragnarok or The Lego Movie.
Overall Disenchantment is an interesting show to watch this weekend. If you’re a Matt Groening fan and have enjoyed his previous creations then this will give you something similar to watch, but also something a little new. The animations are nice and the music is well done. The story is an interesting one and it was nice getting to know princess Bean and the rest of the characters. While some episodes may be a little hit and miss at times, it is overall a fun and oddly quite a relaxing watch. Happy to recommend checking out Disenchantment this weekend.
Let us know in the comments what you think of the show!